Here's a challenge for long-term couples who enjoy horror films: Sit down with your partner and watch Together. The critically acclaimed 2025 movie has now made its launch on a streaming platform on Hulu. At first glance, it may seem like typical physical horror, but beneath Together lies a profound meditation about the ways we decide to love one another.
A Directorial Debut Exploring Relationship Dynamics
Together marks the debut feature-length film for director Michael Shanks. It stars actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as a couple named Tim and Millie, a pair who are not married that have stayed together for ten years. Married in reality in 2017, the two stars infuse a special spark to their roles, expertly portraying both the strengths and weaknesses of a enduring union.
The plot commences when the couple transition from the urban environment to the countryside for Millie’s job. A somewhat stereotypical narrative setup, sure, but that’s largely where the tropes cease. Together evolves into as much a examination of mental states of the partnership as it is a body horror flick.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While hiking near their new home, a storm hits, and the protagonists tumble into an underground cave. After being trapped overnight there and managing to escape, a mysterious influence begins influencing the pair. This force induces a supernatural closeness between them that goes well past simple connection.
The whole movie is a gradually intensifying horror experience, interspersing moments of hallucinatory nightmares, disturbing (but tastefully done) physical transformations, and surprisingly comedic exchanges (sometimes in the middle of something disturbing). Michael Shanks weaves these elements together neatly and delivers them in a slowly mounting aura of dread.
Complex Characterizations
A large part of Together is exclusively Brie and Franco, and they skillfully illustrate manifold depths to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Millie's sense of self and feeling of intimacy is deteriorating due to a lack of intimacy. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his reluctance to pursue anything but his floundering music career slowly bubbles to the surface.
Tim, on the other hand senses confinement and isolated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve moved to the country and removed from his support system. He dreads the notion of totally forfeiting his individual identity in Millie. This fear is further exacerbated by the reality he lacks a driver's license and relies on Millie for getting around.
Shanks’ smartest move in Together avoids making either of his characters the clear bad guy.
The couple confront the sort of issues that come with long-term unions a decade in. At their core, they have affection for one another. They find humor with each other, comfort one another, and open up at times. But under the surface, there’s an persistent current of uncertainty about their future together.
Symbolism and Metaphor
While the otherworldly presence in Together symbolize these concerns of excessive reliance and totally devoting oneself to a partner, the symbolism avoids being clumsy or self-important. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments offer a perfect parallel to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the supernatural and the personal serve the other in harmony.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s conclusion, which remains unspoiled, has created disagreement on the film’s ultimate message about unhealthy partnerships. Accounts suggest that unattached audience members have seen the movie as a powerful case for staying single. Conversely, a few pairs experiencing tension found that the film ultimately assisted them reconcile.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own response could act as a revealing measure of how you view relationships. Will the conclusion plant anxiety and horror, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you identify in one of the characters and feel frustration, or simply glance toward your significant other and say, “We could get through that together”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an exploration you can experience at this very moment.
Together is streaming on Hulu's platform as of this moment.
